Schools prep for tight economy

Published 8:00 pm, Friday, October 31, 2008

Schools around the region are already dealing with the stumbling economy and making long-term adjustments for future budgets.

"It (the economy) is going to play a role," Bethel Superintendent Gary Chesley said. "Already we are looking at expenditures much more closely than we have in the past."

Chesley has seen an increase in the number of dependents on the school medical insurance policy, for example. "We have seen a jump in insurance premiums that was not planned for."

In addition, the cost of materials has increased from when the budget was set 11 months ago.

"We are very concerned about the changing costs of supplies, which are bouncing about," he said.

Town and city revenues that support school budgets depend in large part on local property taxes and state aid, while state revenue depends on sales and income tax receipts.

And all are suffering in this economy, Danbury schools finance director Elio Longo said.

"These are definitely unprecedented times. The impact of the global economy is trickling down to the state and local governments and boards of education," he said. "We need to plan for lean years ahead."

Danbury has a school budget of $111.9 million, and like other districts, must watch cash flow, he said.

"We are constantly monitoring and cutting in every way possible the non-essentials," Longo said. "A direct impact (of the economy) is our need to add three full-size buses to the fleet to deal with increased enrollment and increased ridership as a result of the escalating fuel costs."

Danbury schools have also seen an increase in the number of students buying school lunch, which ranges from free to $2.35 at the high school or $2.10 in the elementary grades.

Not only are more students qualified for free or reduced lunch this year, students who pay are choosing meals instead of snack foods.

"We've noticed that we were getting calls constantly from parents who were telling us stories about people losing jobs or hours or benefits," Meg Kingston, area general manager for Sodexho Foods Service, said Wednesday. "The need was to feed their kids lunch."

In September 2007, 41,946 Danbury students received free lunch; 9,204 received reduced price lunch, and 47,613 paid for a full meal.

In September 2008 all the numbers grew, she said, with 47,676 students receiving free lunch; 12,809 reduced price lunch, and 54,238 paying full price.

In Ridgefield, Superintendent Deborah Low has put a freeze on hiring and curtailed discretionary spending.

She told her Board of Education Oct. 27 that a freeze would likely affect custodians and maintenance staff.

Low also plans to scale back priorities when making a budget recommendation for 2009-10, including postponing sixth-grade world language classes.

She's also exploring reorganizing school grade levels next year to have three schools with kindergarten through second grade and three schools with third through fifth grades to economize on staffing, transportation and energy costs.

The boards of finance, selectmen and education will hold a joint meeting Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall to discuss the current economic situation and the coming budget process.

Brookfield school officials aren't making changes in their current budget, which represents a 1.9 percent increase over the previous year. Superintendent Anthony Bivona said there was little room to negotiate.

"As we move forward into next year," Bivona said, "we will work with the town government to be fiscally responsible and sensitive to the economic times while keeping in mind our students' needs."

Across the state, school districts must worry about state aid.

"We're not sure if there will be a reduction in state aid. It depends on how difficult things get," state Department of Education spokesman Thomas Murphy said. "A small factor helping the equation is that we are seeing a decline in student population by about 3 percent."

Gov. M. Jodi Rell has reduced the state Department of Education budget by $4.7 million already. Murphy said that cut is not affecting local districts except for a $2 million school security grant that will require some schools that received the grant to put their work on hold.

"The bottom line is we don't know the effect," Murphy said. "Funds are in place for very basic services that are vital for local districts and the state department to function."

He couldn't predict how the state will respond to proposed school building projects.

"When you initiate school building projects, they create jobs and pulling back on those has to be a balancing act," Murphy said. "This is a strange time. It's not only Wall Street, but the credit markets and Main Street pulling back on spending."

Newtown school officials are watching bonding carefully as they plan their high school renovation.

"The chair of our Board of Finance told us at our last school board meeting that municipalities are having trouble getting bonding," Newtown Superintendent Janet Robinson said. "The town passed a $38.8 million referendum, but he's not positive how soon we can get that bonded."

She's also worried about next year's budget and how much residents will be able to support.

Economic woes cast shadow on schools More dependents are added to school employees' medical insurance as spouses lose jobs. Need for more school buses to handle increased ridership due in part to higher gas costs. More students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. More students eating full paid meals than snacks. Staff hiring freezes. Erratic shipping costs for supplies. Energy costs higher than last year's budgeted amounts. Cash low worries because of reduced state and local revenues. Concerns about towns' ability to get bonding for approved projects. Increased stress in families.